IEC 2016 THEOLOGICAL SYMPOSIUM
January 20-22, 2016
Cebu Doctors’ University
Cebu, Philippines
A CATECHESIS ON THE SUNDAY EUCHARIST
Dr. Josefina M. Manabat, EdD, SLD
The celebration of Sunday was one of those concems paid attention to with greatest
care in the discussions of the Second Vatican Council." A spirited and careful deliberation
among the Council Fathers resulted in a paragraph that aptly expresses the theological and
pastoral doctrine of the Lord's Day.* Our catechesis on the Sunday Eucharist will revolve
around this paragraph which goes:
By a tradition handed down from the apasties which took its origin from the very day of
Christ's resurrection, the Church celebrates the paschal mystery every eighth day; with
{good reason this, then, bears the name of the Lord's day or Sunday. For on this day
Christ's fethfl are bound to come together into one place so that; by hearing the word of
God and taking part in the Eucharist, they may call to mind the passion, the resurrection
and the glorification of the Lotd Jesus, and may thank God who "has begotten them
‘again, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto a living hope” (1 Pet.
1'3). Hence the Lord's day isthe original feast day, and it should be proposed to the piety
of the faithful and taught to them so that it may become in fact @ day of joy and of
freedom from work. Other celebrations, unless they be truly of greatest importance, shall
not have precedence over the Sunday whichis the foundation and kemel of the whole
liturgical year. [SC 106]
SUNDAY AS THE LORD'S DAY
Central to the meaning of the Christian Sunday is that it is the weekly celebration of the
Paschal Mystery which is the culmination of Christ's work of redemption. Sunday has been
called the Day of the Lord because it was on a Sunday that Christ, by his resurrection, emerged
as victor over sin and death. The Gospels testify that it was on the first day of the week, the
third day after he was crucified, that he rose from the dead. The Gospels of Luke and John
further inform us that it was also on the first day of the week that Christ appeared to his,
disciples® Sunday has thus become the day not only for commemorating the Lord's
* Cf. Schema Consttutionis de Sacra Liturgia. EMENDATIONES. A Patribus Conciliaibus postulatae; A Commissione
CConciliari de Sacra Liturgia examinatae et propositae: Caput V Schematis, Typ Polyglotts Vaticanis 1962, 5-6, 10.
Cf. H. Jenny, “The Proper of the Time,” in Commentary on Sacrosanctum Conciium, New York 1965, 232; H
‘Schmit, La Costituzione sulla Sacra Liturgia. Testo-Genesi-Commento-Documentazione, Roma 1966, 185resurrection from the dead but also for encountering him as the Risen Savior. Speaking of the
significance of Sunday, early Christian witness associates the first day of the week not only with
the resurrection of the Lord but also with his appearances to his disciples. The second century
‘martyr, St. Justin, for example, recounts: “On the day named after the sun, all who live in the
city or countryside assemble... Itis on Sunday that we all assemble, because Sunday is the first
day: the day on which Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead... and the day he appeared
to his apostles and disciples” (Apology |, c. 67).
SUNDAY AS ENCOUNTER WITH THE RISEN LORD
It would be of great pastoral benefit if Sunday would be understood and appreciated not
only as the day of Christ’s resurrection but also as the day he appeared to his disciples
after his resurrection. The Gospels inform us that he appeared in his Body—risen and
glorified. Despite the locked doors, he was able to pass through and stand in their midst, spoke
to them, and showed them his pierced hands and side He made sure that they were
‘convinced that they were not seeing a ghost but a man of flesh and bones." He urged Thomas
who was not present at his first apparition to touch his pierced hands and side so that the
absent disciple may come to believe.* These details concerning the Risen Christ's post-
resurrection appearances are important for our consideration. Its fiting in this regard to recall
the lapidary words of Tertullian in the third century: the flesh is the threshold of salvation.’ The
Risen Christ would henceforth continue to appear to his disciples in sensible ways—the Sunday
‘gathering, the word proclaimed, and the bread broken and shared.
It is worthwhile to linger @ bit on the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to the
disciples who were travelling from Jerusalem to Emmaus' for the insights it offers relating to our
observance of Sunday. The two disciples have decided to leave Jerusalem and go home to
Emmaus, feeling dejected by the thought that the one in whom they placed all their hopes has
died. The Gospel writer took pains to state that this apparition happened on ‘that very day’, the
first day of the week, the same day that the women who intended to anoint the body of Jesus
early that day discovered that he has risen as he foretold. Jesus, whom the disciples did not
recognize, explained to them the words of Scripture that referred to himself. Approaching
evening, they arrived at Emmaus. The two disciples invited him to stay and have supper with
them. While he was with them at table he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave
it to them. Instantly their eyes were opened and they recognized him in the breaking of the
bread. They recalled how they felt as he explained the Scriptures to them earlier that day:
"Were not our hearts buming (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the
Scriptures to us?” For three years that they followed Jesus the two disciples had grown
2 Ch Uk. 24:4; In. 20:19, 26; 21:14
“CF. Jn. 20: 19-20, 26,
°F Lk. 24:39-40,
Of tn. 20: 24-29,
> Tertullian, De resurrectione mortuorum VI, 6-7: Caro solutis cardo
* Ch. Uk. 24:13-35,‘accustomed to the particular way in which Jesus taught and broke bread at supper. The Last
‘Supper and that supper at Emmaus were preceded by many similar occasions at which Jesus
preached and did the same gesture of breaking the bread. They have grown familiar with the
way he taught and broke the bread. It was this familiarity that helped them recognize the Lord
as he spoke to them and as he broke the bread.
‘The Emmaus narrative seems to describe a typical Sunday Eucharistic celebration at the
time of the first disciples. At its core is the reading of the Scripture and the breaking of the
Bread. In the proclamation and explanation of the Word, Christians perceived in faith that it was
the Lord who was unfolding the Scripture to them. In the taking, blessing, breaking, and giving
of the bread to the assembly, they recognized in faith that it was Jesus who broke the
Eucharistic Bread as he did in the home of the two disciples. The story of Emmaus seems to
affirm that the chief provision for the Christian people in the apostolic Church each Sunday was
the Eucharist at which the risen Christ spoke to his faithful people through the proclamation of
the Word of God and gave himself to them in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
‘THE SUNDAY EUCHARIST
Since ancient times, then, the observance of the Lord's Day has been identified with the
celebration of the Eucharist. For Christians through the centuries, Sunday is the Lord's Day and
could not be properly observed without the Eucharist. In other words, itis the celebration of the
Eucharist that makes Sunday the Lord's Day. The Eucharist has been the Church's unique and
‘original way of commemorating the resurrection of Christ on Sunday and of experiencing again
‘and again his presence in word and sacrament.
“Sine dominico non possumus!" “Without the Eucharist we cannot live?’ In the second
century, about 50 Christians in Abythinia in North Africa made this profession of faith after they
were arrested as they were coming out of a house where they celebrated the Eucharist one
early Sunday morning.” They were told to give up this Sunday gathering or face death. Their
answer was courageous and ardent with faith in the Risen Lord: “We cannot live without
receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord on the day of his resurrection.” So important was the
Lord's Day to them that it was unthinkable to not celebrate the Lord's Day without experiencing
his sacramental presence. Even in times of persecution or in the face of hostility Christians
‘would not skip celebrating the Eucharist on the Lord's Day. The many stories of how
persecuted Christians gathered and continue to gather secretly on Sunday to celebrate the
Eucharist at the risk of being tortured or losing their lives are a powerful and touching witness to
this.
Each Sunday the Risen Christ continues to appear to the assembled community, as to
the disciples of Emmaus, through the proclamation of the word and the breaking of bread. On
account of this, the Constitution on the Liturgy insists: "On this day Christ's faithful must gather
* Cf. John Paul i, Apostolic Letter Dies Domini on Keeping the Lord's Day Holy (31 May 1998), n. 46. Henceforth,
this document willbe referred to as DD.